The Viewing

Brolin One-Liner: “A disturbing piece of furniture, isn’t it?”

Second most disturbing piece of furniture? Coffee table.

     It’s a coffin, Brolin, not a credenza. Not exactly what someone would call a piece of furniture. Adam Foster is the typical teenager in a family of undertakers in the 1990’s. He has a puka shell necklace and an unbuttoned flannel shirt. The unbuttoned flannel is an allegory for the uninhibited, carefree lifestyle only prevalent in a pre9-11 era. I’m sure he has a Sound Garden poster hanging up in his bedroom and “rocks out” on his “walkman” while watching his “Music Television.” He is looking for somebody named Brent down a row of caskets by calling out their name. Now I know what you’re thinking; Is this kid searching for a corpse by calling their name? Just when we lose all hope in Adam, a much younger kid in a squared buzzcut jumps out of the casket behind him in an attempt to scare him. Instead, it just scares the viewer into believing that Guile from Street Fighter has come to life as an 11 year old.

Sonic Boo!

      You’re really set up to hate this kid. He’s got a grating voice and a bad attitude about being such a jerk. Adam is obviously mad about being scared, but Brent accuses him of being a “stiff.” Touché. The scene cuts dramatically to a man shouting that he can’t find his keys. This man literally has one motivation in life and that is to find his keys. Turns out, it is Adam's and Brent's dad. Adam does the sensible thing when he’s been scared by his much younger brother and tattles. A fight breaks out between the mother and the two sons, but the father can’t be bothered with these damn domestic quibbles. The man can’t find his keys!

     A widow of one of Mr. Foster’s client calls and asks to postpone the funeral the she had scheduled the next morning. No, no, the dead man hasn’t surprisingly sprung back to life….yet. She wants to bury him with his war medals. After himming and hawing over it for a bit something truly unbelievable happens. Mr. Foster finds his car keys…in his own pocket.

Beyond Relief

     The widow Hannon gives the undertaker a stern warning that Reginald Hannon gets what Reginald Hannon wants. Mr. Foster convinces her to keep looking, probably insisting that she should check her pockets. The family is rushed out the door leaving just Adam alone in the house. 

      

     A short while later there is a knock at the door and a grisly old man says that he needs to see the body. Adam let’s the man know that visiting hours are over but the old man insists that he won’t be able to make it tomorrow. Then the old man shows Adam some trinkets in a brown paper sack he claims are war medals for Reginald Hannon. And with that, Adam lets the stranger into the house without learning his name or asking his relation to the deceased. Luckily for the viewers, Adam asks the old man to sign the registry before he goes into the sanctuary.


     Adam shows him the way into the chapel and the old man asks to be alone. After a montage of Adam waiting, he goes back into the chapel to confront the old man, but he’s nowhere to be found. Adam finds the empty brown paper sack in one of the pews. Then he looks UNDER. THE. PEW. Old men sure are likely to crawl into uncomfortable and tight spaces for a rousing impromptu game of hide-and-go-seek. Spookily enough, the corpse in the open casket looks just like him and is wearing his war medals. The icing on the cake though, is the registry, signed by the late Reginald Hannon.

Luke’s Theory: Drugs. Kid got high and couldn’t remember how the medals got there. So...Fact?

Casey’s theory: Old guy, looking for a place to die. Doesn’t want to be the financial burden on his family that all old people are, decides to die in a funeral home. He ditches the corpse that was in the coffin and lies down and dies. No one’s going to notice an extra old dead guy.

James Brolin’s possible theory: Identical twins. And he snuck out through a secret exit.

Casey: My theory doesn’t sound that bad anymore, now does it?

Dale: Could’ve been a practical joke, to get back at that snot-nosed little brother. Adam is the only one who could verify whether someone had been there at all. The old lady found the medals, dropped them off, and Adam signed the deceased’s name on the registry to “prank” his little brother.

Casey: That’s a terrible prank.

Dale: So was the “hiding in a coffin” prank. The kid’s making it up. It’s just an intricate web of lies. Fact.

Sam: What if he dreamed it? Maybe it was true but it was only a dream.

Casey: So is that a Fact or a Fiction?

Sam: I really don’t know. If we’re talking about the actual story Fiction, if we’re taking the boy’s word it’d be Fact.

Casey: I’m going with “It’s Just a prank Bro...lin.” Fiction.

Jordan: It’s a ghost story at a funeral home. They all get started somewhere. It doesn’t mean it's true. It just means that Beyond Belief believes it’s true. That’s good enough for Fact.

Anna: This was probably from the 80’s everyone knows there were no rules in the 80’s. Fact

Anna: Or like Luke said: Drugs. Is that a third option now?


Fact or Fiction: Fact.


Casey’s Groaner: “Was this man really Reginald Hannon, or was he a dead ringer?”